Memories of an important game in our promotion campaign a couple of years ago are stirred up today with a visit to the KC, KCOM, MKM Hull City Stadium to play Hull City. The ground isn’t called all of those things but it’s been named all of those things over the past ten years or so. Last time here, it was looking like a very unsatisfactory draw was on the cards until Wee Man superbly swept home a Flynn Downes pull back from the edge of the box to give us a late win. How we could do with something similar today, a late win or in fact, any win.

When I started looking at this game, I noted that Hull had only won one game all season and it should therefore be a game that we should target for a win but then I thought, hang on a minute, we’ve only won one game all season as well in the league. I also noted the fact that Hull’s win was against Oxford, who are largely expected to be down to the bottom this season but then ours, was against Wrexham who despite all the hype, are newly promoted and are struggling and looking like they are going to be somewhere near the relegation fight as well. In short, Hull’s start to the season has not been great and ours hasn’t either.

It’s a question of expectation though, as I suspect Hull fans were expecting them to struggle a little bit this season. It’s a tale as old as time how it’s come to this. Back in the season when we played them in the Wee Man game, they had players in their squad like Jaden Philogene, Fabio Carvalho, Liam Delap, Alfie Jones and Jacob Greaves and they were managed by Liam Rosenior who did a brilliant job that season and they finished just below the playoffs. In their wisdom, they parted company with a Rosenior (a good manager) and appointed Tim Walter and Ruben Selles (shite managers). I can’t speak much for Tim Walter but they clearly fell for what Ruben‘s agent told them. I don’t know who his agent is but he’s clearly a master polishing that particular turd of a CV. So, touched by the magic of Ruben, they finished fourth from bottom last season and he was sacked to move onto Sheffield United and got sacked there after five games. It will be interesting to see what Ruben‘s agent comes up with for his next job, probably Manchester United or Rangers, depending on his CV turd polishing skills. Meanwhile, back in Hull, their attack is now is led by Oli McBurnie, who has proved himself to be a handful against us in the past, but has also proved himself to be a complete arsehole. He did however prove that Lyanco’s hard man posturing was a bit of a bluff because our alleged hard man had a chance to really get involved in a proper fight with him and as far as I recall, completely bottled it. McBurnie is one of three ex-Sheffield United players in the Hull squad along with John Lundstram and John Egan, which is another Ruben connection of sorts.

Will Still has been talking a lot in his press conferences this week and is showing a refreshing honesty or is saying too much, depending on your point of view. Personally, I think managers should be able to point out things about individual players if they want to, but I’m not sure the modern footballer will react in the best way to this being in the case. Flynn Downs name has come up quite a lot this week because he apparently he is ill again and is likely to miss the game, but when questioned why the midfield of Downes and Shea Charles was not really working, Will pointed out that one reason for the lack of progression was that Flynn is used to just bouncing the ball back to the central defenders rather than passing forwards, in a clear reference to the fact that Russell Martin had players playing in a very formulaic way. My response to that is that Flynn has been trained by Will since about June, so how long does it take?

Whilst you can either like or dislike this kind of comment, I did like the fact that he pointed out that all decision-making in real time had been knocked out of these players. I personally think that is something that has happened over much longer period of time, back to the days of Ralph and his playbook and yes, most of the players have changed but the culture has remained. Comparisons have been drawn between the way Will speaks about his players and the way Ronald Koeman spoke about his. The bottom line is that Ronald Koeman could get away with it because at the end of the day, he was Ronald fucking Koeman and he could lay his career on the table as evidence that he did kind of know what he was talking about, if ever that was a problem. I mean, where the football is talked about a hundred years from now, Ronald Koeman’s name will still come up so he certainly had the gravitas to pull that off.

Will is undoubtedly taking a few risks with this approach because it is in danger of just sounding like excuses but I do agree with quite a lot of what he says. However, like with anything relating to football managers, the bottom line is you’ve got to start winning some games and it really has to start today Because if it’s doesn’t, it’s top of the league Middlesbrough at home next week.

In the event, Flynn was fit enough for the bench and Caspar Jander is made his debut and that gives the young German a massive opportunity to stake a claim. Cameron Archer also dipped out to the bench with a fitness concern and so in came Damion Downs, leapfrogging Ross Stewart and Adam Armstrong in the pecking order from last week.

Away we go and an opening in which Saints look the more composed side and Hull are going full Russell Martin at the back, knocking the ball about and giving their fans heart attacks, especially given that the pitch is very wet. They negotiate this without alarm however and spring into attacking life when Saints lose the ball on our right following one of Roerslev’s dodgy throw-ins which always like like they are a foul throw but never get given. Hull work the ball to the opposite side of the pitch and in it comes no messing and Gelhardt gets up at the back post and heads goalwards, with Baz parrying it straight into the path of Jospeh and it hits him and it apologetically bounces into the net. The apology should come from the fucking goalkeeper and two defenders who got beaten by a 5 foot 9 forward by basically not jumping and what the fuck was that from Baz?

So, 1-0 down to the first attack from absolute bullshit defending and goalkeeping and we start playing and beging to look the better side with a good ball forward from the defence finding Azaz, and he does what we brought him for and threads the ball through and sends Downs clean through and this is the moment that the American justifies why we bought him… and this is the exact situations he is good at…. and he shanks it wide with just the goalkeeper to beat. Fucking useless to be honest to not even get that on target but that is the first sign of exactly what we should be doing with our attacking but let down by a poor finish.

After that we revert to putting crosses in the box but no one getting across the first man to threaten. Damion Downs goes for one Manning cross with his eyes shut and it gets knocked out at the edge of the box with Fellows attempting to score goal of the season but shanks it wide for a goal kick.

That’s more or less it for the first half and it’s been pretty lame. We haven’t worked the goalkeeper at all again and don’t look likely to as it stands. We’re behind due to one bit of bad defending and one bad miss but behind we are, and we have to do better in the second half.

Away we go and Saints have clearly had a rocket because we pin Hull back in their defensive third but manage not to threaten us all or make the goalkeeper work. I think he had to catch a cross at one point. Roerslev’s cross is headed away before Charles and Fraser find Manning, and his cross in is met by Downs and his skims off his head to Fellows at the back stick, but he tries to pull it back because he has no angle to shoot and the danger gets cleared.

More pressure results in Jack Stephens lining one up from 35 yards but it flicks off a defender and goes wide for a corner. That’s where we’re at. Lots of attacking propaganda play but the only shot that causes anyone any grief is Jack Stephens from 35 yards.

Another Saints attack is cleared and we work it back to halfway where THB tries to pass it and presents it to Hull. The ball immediately gets pumped forward from the right wing on the diagonal towards McBurnie who easily beats THB in the air and nods it down for the unmarked Lundstram to smash it into the net pass the unprotected Baz. Wankers. Horrific from THB and horrific from Stephens who was in a world of his own and not anticipating the danger. No one has tracked Lundstram from midfield it’s absolutely fucking pathetic. No sense of danger, no desire to compete for the ball in the air or tracker a runner. Absolute fucking rubbish. Against the run of play sure, but that was shit and we deserve to be two down.

With the game virtually dead it’s time for subs and Arma, Archer and Scienza are on for Fellows, Downs and Roerslev. Taking Fellows off in particular, does not go down well with the very pissed off Saints contingent in the crowd. Before the changes have any real chance to take hold, Giles takes on THB in the right back area and THB trashes him and then moans about receiving the most deserved yellow card you’ve ever seen. In comes the free kick and it’s THB‘s man yet again as McBurnie rises up and scores a simple header . For fuck‘s sake. Three headers won in our box, three goals. Useless cunts.

Even at 3-0 and the game won, Hull are still winning every single challenge and it’s fucking garbage. Giles’ deep cross from left back is met by McBurnie beyond the back stick and the ball is bouncing around in the six yard box but we managed to hack that one away.

With not many Saints fans still in the ground, Jelert and Scienza combine to put the ball into the box as we reached 94 minutes and after a half clearance by Hull, Wee Man wins our first header in the opposition penalty area in the 94th minute, inside to Arma who controls on his chest, spins and lashes are very nice finish into the net. Nice goal but so fucking what.

Reality check. For anyone who thought this would magically turn round and we would go on a run to propel us back into the Premier League at the end of the season, then this was a major wake-up call. Absolutely fucking abysmal. The bottom line is that if you don’t win headers and challenges in both penalty areas, then you will not win many games in the Championship. All three of Hull’s goals came from winning pretty uncontested headers in the penalty area. Our players are just not committed enough and do not have enough will to win the ball and when that happens, you don’t win the ball and it’s absolute carnage. Our goalkeeper and both central defenders were abysmal today and exposed as players, who when the going gets tough, they will disappear. THB and Baz were pathetic on the first goal, THB was pathetic both in giving the ball away and then losing a header on the second goal. Stephens was not participating in anything on the second goal. THB once again gave a stupid freekick away for the third goal and then lost his man. THB is clearly not a bad player but the partnership with Stephens is not right. Neither are dominant in the air and you need one of them to be. When you look back to two seasons agao we had Bednarek and THB as the centre back pairing and that worked (though we still conceded a lot). Bednarek was the ‘first knock’ defender and THB read the game and passed the ball forward. Nathan Wood needs to be one of the two if it’s a back four.

So, the centre backs were non-existent and then you get to the keeper. What the fucking hell Baz was doing on the first goal is beyond me. He has the choice of catch it, punch it or parry it. If you parry it then you get it away from the goal. I don’t even know why he dived and I don’t know how he dives and doesn’t go anywhere… it’s a skill he has. The upshot was that he managed to push it behind him into the middle of the goal, six yards out, straight to a Hull player. Baz looked decent in pre-season and for the first couple of games but he’s relapsed and that means he’s just not good enough at the moment. The Stoke goal was slightly questionable, the Watford first was a bit more questionable and now this today which was horrible, and the time has come to change him for McCarthy for the next League game. The only thing Baz has over Macca is that he’s better with his feet, which really isn’t important if you are letting in shit goals. McCarthy makes more saves, has more presence and catches more high balls, something we could definitely do with. He isn’t perfect but he’s the best we’ve got.

So, we can’t defend and we can’t attack either. Damion Downs can’t head the ball and he can’t hold a defender off. I don’t think he won a challenge all game. He was picked today to try and add some sort of physical presence to the attack and apart from shutting his eyes and waving his head at the ball and missing it on a couple of crosses, he did absolutely nothing. He did get given the ball in the perfect situation in the first half through the channels and managed to get clean through with just the goalkeeper to beat but of course, he missed the target. The poor attack is not all his fault though because in the second half we had 20 minutes of possession in their half where we asked very few questions from about 30 yards out before the defence took the pressure off the attack with the THB double-error show to give away the second goal. With the game now dead we throw on a few subs and there was the odd sign of life but nothing much before another THB double-error show to cough up the third goal and that was that before Armstrong’s consolation, which was a good goal but ultimately, you don’t get too enthused about a 95th minute consolation when you are 3-0 down at the time.

Aside from the lack of intensity in winning challenges in both penalty areas, you had the slow and ponderous buildup, you had turning out and playing the ball backwards when it could’ve been delivered into the penalty area (for us to lose another header). It took until the 94th minute for us to win a header in the attacking penalty area and that was one by Ryan Fraser who is called Wee Man for a reason, flicking the ball inside for Adam Armstrong to score.

Will Still is becoming the lightning rod for criticism and he picks the team of course. I do however find myself though, agreeing with everything he says in post match post-mortems – basically that we won’t win any games if we defend like that. He is not blind or deluded and is not watching a different game to the rest of us, like some managers we have had in the past. As I said, he picks the team however, but he’s picked a team without players with the requisite will to win a header, will to win any sort of duel on the pitch with their opposite number. Defensively, we absolutely have to start looking at Nathan Wood which means dropping one or both of the two favoured central defenders or switching back to a back three, which will mean one of the forward players getting left out.

What on earth we do upfront is really open to debate. Adam Armstrong scored today and has looked lively in recent weeks when he has played off his favourite right hand side but we’ve brought in Tom Fellows to play that position so I struggle to see how you get both of them in the team effectively. Whilst I put most of today’s blame on the players, certainly in defence, I do wonder about Still on the attacking side. Armstrong, Stewart and Archer can all score goals in this division so why are they looking so relatively inept this season. These are the strikers he has until January and he needs to get the team playing in a way that gets this guys the ball in a way that means they can be effective. Armstrong, Archer and Downs have started 3, 2 and 1 games each and have 1, 1 and 0 goals so far. More than the goals or lack of, they have all looked varying degrees of uncomfortable as a lone striker. Maybe it’s time to give Ross Stewart a go but I think it’s really time to change the way we are attacking. What that looks like I don’t know but that’s what Will Still is paid to get right.

Oli McBurnie – it seems I owe you a bit of an apology. It’s been widely reported that Wee Man told Oli that he wishes he had someone like him to cross the ball to. Wee Man is correct – McBurnie would make our team immeasurably better just by winning some challenges and making defenders lives difficult. However, we would all have been rolling our eyes if we’d signed him or Kieffer Moore or Colby Bishop, because we seem to somehow think we’re better than those kind of players but trust me, we are not. We play a style of football that suits those players, only we don’t have them, we have either small lightweight strikers in Armstrong and Archer or we have tall gangly lightweight strikers in Stewart and Downs.

Some shade was also thrown on summer recruitment by Caspar Jander‘s debut today, which was a bit underwhelming. Some nice touches but a little bit lightweight which didn’t help and as with the Watford game, when Flynn Downes is missing, our midfield tends not to compete because Shea Charles can’t do it all on his own. Early days of course but Jander is now the third of Johannes Spors young German Bundesliga Division 2 players, who has not looked like he is ready for the Championship. This is the reality when you are taling about winning games next week or in the near future Leo Scienza looks to have a little bit more about him right now, but then he has played in the Bundesliga before and is a little bit older. Maybe now is the time for a bit more experience and Joe Aribo certainly needs to be brought back into the match day squad.

Apparently we’ve now won two games out of our last 34 league games, which is impressive. Both of those were last minute winners as well, one of which was scored by Tall Paul, the one striker with a physical presence that we had and the only one we sold. You have to laugh.

Don’t worry, it’s only Liverpool next. I mean, they will play some of their substitutes like Alexander Isak, Federico Chiesa and Andy Robertson, so I’m sure that’ll be a nice easy game on Tuesday night.